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Let's regain our lost civilisation

REBIRTH OF A LEGACY: The revolutionary 'Interpretation Centre' at the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site in Limpopo was built using a technique invented in Africa
REBIRTH OF A LEGACY: The revolutionary 'Interpretation Centre' at the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site in Limpopo was built using a technique invented in Africa

PEOPLE who were colonised can be reconquered through other means.

By reconnecting with our pre-colonial history, we can develop the means to be self-empowered.

South Africans are battling to find the things that connect them across race, class, region and religion. Part of the reason is that we are heavily reliant on and influenced by technology - identities and ideologies imported from elsewhere.

But South Africans were unique in the early democratic era. We were referred to as a "rainbow nation" that managed to negotiate a peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy.

Some looked to us to find mechanisms to heal their societies that had suffered through state-sponsored violence and genocide. In the early 1990s, we seemed to possess a special quality through the able and visionary leadership of our founding fathers such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu.

But in our haste to rebuild a new nation, we glossed over our pre-colonial heritage. We ignored this past that would have provided tangible evidence of a civilisation denied and repressed by apartheid.

A very clear example of this civilisation that existed before colonisation is the pre-colonial Mapungubwe state-kingdom that flourished between 900 and 1300AD.

In highlighting this greatness, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) declared the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape a world heritage site in 2003.

Unesco was convinced of the scientific evidence about a thriving kingdom that manufactured gold and copper products, dabbled in stone masonry and traded with far-flung China in pottery.

Mapungubwe was a relatively effective experiment of a region where people interacted without strong regard for race, ethnicity and tribal affiliations.

What mattered was participating in economic activities and social structures that eventually contributed to establishing the first complex civilisation in southern Africa.

Mapungubwe was an example of early signs of globalisation long before the inventions of present-day conveniences such as airplanes, satellites and the Internet.

People of this state-kingdom used home-grown technology to produce jewellery and finished metal products, in contrast to today's society where we simply mine for export markets without beneficiation.

Why was this history suppressed by the apartheid regime long after the remains of Mapungubwe were found in the 1930s?

Firstly, it would have challenged the ideology that black people were incapable of making useful things for society's advancement.

Secondly, it provided empirical proof that black people had lived in the region long before 1652.

Thirdly, it would have provided ammunition for those waging the struggle against apartheid and for African self-affirmation.

But the blame does not only lie with the past regime. Post-1994 South Africa is also to blame for the deadening silence on the Mapungubwe civilisation.

We have selected to place all focus on colonial history and the counter-struggles against colonialism. It is baffling why ordinary people are not provided with knowledge on this history that is equal in potential to the Sphinx in Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India, the Great Wall of China or Goree Island in Senegal.

If it was popularly known, South Africans would appreciate the bonds tying us to our brethren whose descendants are spread throughout the region. We would not resort to xenophobic acts.

Also, this collective amnesia contributes to perpetuating stereotypes about Africa as a region of pandemics, tribal conflict, starvation and aid instead of trade.

What is to be done? The knowledge that exists in school books needs to filter widely to the public. The government, as the custodian of national symbols, has to take a leading role in distributing information on Mapungubwe beyond bestowing the Order of Mapungubwe and treating it as a nature conservation site.

History about this landscape can only come alive if it talks about people and not only the fauna and flora. It is only then that we can dream of a South Africa living beyond the significance of beloved Mandela and Tutu.

Mapungubwe enables us to retrieve past lessons based on the principle of self-reliance by self-reference. Why is this important?

The late national poet laureate Mazisi Kunene said: "We are not the driftwood of distant oceans. Our kinsmen are a thousand centuries old. Only a few nations begat civilisations - not (only) of gold, not of things, but of people."

In building a new South Africa, we are building upon millennia of experiences.

The Mapungubwe Institute will host a conference at the Wits University Origins Centre tomorrow, starting at 9am, to present the findings of a two-year research project focusing on the rise and decline of the Mapungubwe state and on the lessons this holds for all of us.

  • Sehume is a researcher at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection

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